Former Member

AI is ok for grammatical or spelling issues, or over use of phrases - but it's like telling someone to proof read their second language.

No, that's helpful, thank you. I think the problem is I’m 28 chapters into what should be 34 chapters, so I’m close enough to the end that I keep getting tempted back. I’ll suddenly realise something makes more sense now, then go back and add a bit, cut a bit, fiddle with a bit. I have also learned that if I can’t fix a passage in about an hour, it probably needs cutting, which is brutal but usually true. Anyway, I’ll suffer on. Harry does, so I suppose I have to. Three chapters being public is enough for now.

Yeah, I think beta readers probably would help. I’ve got 28 chapters written and 6 more to go and I keep editing them. I’m honestly not sure anymore if I’m making them better or just putting off letting people read them. I’ve posted three chapters publicly now with a 20% cut, which felt like a big step. Now I’m just braced.

I want to sound like I know what I’m doing, but honestly, I have no idea.

Does anyone else start editing one tiny thing and somehow end up doubting the entire scene? I’ll go to fix a clunky sentence, then suddenly I’m questioning the voice, the pacing, whether the scene even needs to exist, and whether I’ve made the whole thing worse. How do you tell the difference between actually improving something and just overthinking it? I’m trying not to edit the life out of my own work, so I’d be interested to know how other people deal with this.

Thank you for the tips!

Hi everyone, I’m Carl, and I’m new to Gay Authors. I’ve recently started posting my first book here, so I’m still finding my feet — both with the site and with sharing my writing properly for the first time. I mostly write character-led contemporary queer fiction with messy feelings, complicated attraction, bad decisions, humour, and the occasional emotional gut-punch. I’m drawn to stories about people who want love, but don’t always know what to do with it when it appears. Looking forward to getting to know people, reading more stories, and being part of the community. Thanks for having me!

Zug is a fascinating word in German. Meanings range from "puff" (like a locomotive), to wanderer, to tractor as a verb. Appears in Zugvogel as migratory bird. In the senses of traveler, migration, one a bit lost, etc., I wonder if way back in the mists of language trees, Zug was related to the familiar-in-English Latinate prefix fug. As in fugitive.

A recondite selection perhaps, but the recordare of Salieri's requiem should not be missed

A favorite of lyricists and song stylists for decades

@Myr Great example sentence -- love it

The three or four would mean the 3rd or 4th hour of sunlight, as Romans divided the light and dark parts of the day into 12 equal "hours", which were not fixed. So 3 or 4 hours after sunrise might still be when many eat their breakfast nowadays